A tonneau cover is a cover that is adapted to cover a cargo box of a vehicle, such as a pickup truck.
Some tonneau covers are made of two or more enclosure panels. Adjacent enclosure panels are typically connected together via a connector or rail. The connector or rail is also adapted to provide for the adjacent panels to be folded, pivoted, or otherwise moved relative to each other to provide access to the inside of the cargo box.
Due to manufacturing and/or assembly variations, some edges of some enclosure panels may have uneven cuts or surfaces, which may undesirably provide a passageway for water to travel around the edges of an enclosure panel and connector and enter the cargo box.
Also, during manufacturing and/or assembly of the tonneau cover, varying amounts of adhesive and/or sealant may be applied to the panels and/or connector to join the panels and connector together, which may undesirably result in areas having little or no adhesive and/or sealant, which may also undesirably provide a passageway for water to enter the cargo box.
Moreover, applying the adhesive and/or sealant during manufacturing and/or assembly may be labor intensive, time consuming, and cumbersome. Adhesive and/or sealant may also be wasted due to the manual application of the adhesive and/or sealant. Lastly, additional footprint in the manufacturing and/or assembly facility must be dedicated to storing the adhesive, sealant, connectors, etc.
Accordingly, opportunities may exist for improving the current state of the art.
For example, for some applications, it may be desirable to have a tonneau cover that can folded, pivoted, rotated, or otherwise moved to provide access to the inside of the cargo box, but is free of connectors or rails joining together adjacent panels. By having such a tonneau cover, passageways or gaps between the panel(s) and the connector(s) would be eliminated thus eliminating passages for water to enter the cargo box.
Moreover, manufacturing and assembling of such a tonneau cover may be less complex and less expensive; manufacturing and assembly time may be reduced; and storage space required at the manufacturing and/or assembly facility for storing connectors or rails, adhesive, and/or sealant may be reduced or eliminated.
Lastly, by having a tonneau cover that is free of connectors or rails, aesthetics and an overall appearance of the tonneau cover may be improved because the tonneau cover would have an overall sleek, smooth, and constant exterior surface appearance without any visible connectors, rails, joints, and/or discrete panel sections.